Today's conditions brought to you by the Bush Junta -
marionettes of their hyperdimensional puppet masters - Produced and
Directed by the CIA, based on an original script by Henry
Kissinger, with a cast of billions.... The "Greatest Shew on
Earth," no doubt, and if you don't have a good sense of humor,
don't read this page! It is designed to reveal the "unseen."
If you can't stand the heat of Objective Reality, get out of the
kitchen!

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material presented in the linked articles does not necessarily reflect
the views or opinions of the editors. Research on your own and if you
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other readers. As always, Caveat Lector!

"Disasters involve cycles in the human experiential
cycle [...] Human cycle mirrors cycle of catastrophe. Earth
benefits in form of periodic cleansing. Time to start paying
attention to the signs. They are escalating. They can even be
'felt' by you and others, if you pay
attention."

Bush
regaled the nation and the world yesterday with a speech about
"freedom". As he strutted and fretted his hour upon the stage, we
soon came to realise that it was was a tale told by an idiot, full
of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Interestingly however,
"nothing" is exactly what Americans and many other peoples around
the world may soon be left with as a result of this particular
idiot and his puppet masters.

The
Pentagon claims a special force is hunting Osama and Saddam. It
shouldn't be too hard to find them, given that they should know
where at least Saddam is hiding - after all, they gave him 48 hours
notice before the invasion. Other Iraq news includes: another U.S.
chopper is downed, Bush says monarchial Saudi Arabia should lead
Arab countries toward democracy, some troops desert rather than
return to Iraq, and more on troop rotations.

FBI
unleashed, propaganda tweaking, assassination, workplace shootings,
and anthrax scares. A typical day in the neighborhood if you live
in the United States of America. Land of the Free, Home of the
Brave™.

"If
voting could really change things, it would be illegal." - Excerpt
from the
Diebold Documents

Today in 1917, the
Bolshevik Revolution led by V.I. Lenin overthrew the Kerensky
government and began setting up world's first communist state.
Interestingly Lenin was a Russian Jew.

Hang
on to your
emotional centers as we explore the truth about
our world and the people in charge of it.

This
speech may well turn out to be a defining moment in the presidency
of George W Bush.

Its
message was unmistakeable - that the countries of the Middle East
must embrace democracy for the good of their peoples and the
security of the world.

To
set the stage and no doubt to warm the hearts of American
conservatives, the president began by drawing a parallel with that
hero of the Republican Party, Ronald Reagan.

The
former president had predicted the downfall of Communism, which
President Bush said had been considered naive at the
time.

The
inference was clear - that people who doubt this president's belief
in the spread of democracy, might also be proved wrong.

The
president said there was no reason why the people of the Middle
East should not enjoy democracy - "it should be clear to all that
Islam - the faith of one-fifth of humanity - is consistent with
democratic rule" - accusing those who doubted it of cultural
condescension.

There was also a tough
message for the region's rulers, the president posing them a
question: "As changes come to the Middle Eastern region, those with
power should ask themselves: Will they be remembered for resisting
reform, or for leading it?"

What
was perhaps most surprising about the speech though, was the
president's verdict on the West's past policy in the region as a
failure.

"Sixty years of Western
nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the
Middle East did nothing to make us safe - because in the long run,
stability cannot be purchased at the expense of
liberty."

The
speech appears to have been brewing ever since the 11 September
attacks

The president said the US had therefore adopted a new policy on the
Middle East, describing it as a "forward strategy of
freedom".

Exactly what that will mean
in practical terms the president didn't say.

Comment:
Of course he didn't say, and you know why? Well, firstly the
President doesn't write his speeches so he never really understands
what he is saying. The reason he doesn't write his speeches is
because he lacks the intelligence and awareness of domestic or
international affairs to do so. The people that write his speeches
like Karl Rove and other members of the militant Christian and
Jewish fundamentalist extremist group known as PNAC DO know what
they are talking about, that's why they write the speeches. There
is a problem however.

Most of the US and Western
European public (who the speeches are directed at) are in a similar
position to president Bush, not understanding very well the truth
of the nature of international politics and it's agenda. Having,
for years, been fed a diet of simplistic and often moronic "news
bites" they have come to believe that the world is divided very
simply between "goodies and baddies", with the western nations
being the "goodies" and the eastern nations being the "baddies."
For the vast majority of people the west is a shining example of
the wonders of democratic rule and the east is (in general) a
festering cess pit of dictatorial horror.

This then is why Karl Rove
et al write Bush's speeches using terms like "forward strategy of
freedom". Essentially it means nothing, but contains little sound
bites that confirm to the public the aforementioned erroneous
belief about the nature of government in western nations. In
yesterday's speech (we wont call it Bush's speech in the interest
of accuracy) Bush mentioned that he deplored the middle east's
"freedom deficit". It is terms like these that the government
relies on to get the message across.

If we consider the term
"freedom deficit" stated as it was in relation to the Middle East,
and how it might be understood by the public, we come to the
conclusion that the most important message (from the government's
POV) contained within those two little words is not that the middle
east lacks freedom, but rather that the US has plenty of it. This
is the illusion that must be maintained at all costs, as long as US
citizens believe that "their" country is the guardian of freedom
they will continue to support the government in it's efforts to
dispense this freedom to all nations with a "deficit". The
government's assurance that this will remain the case lies in the
fact that Americans WANT to believe that they are free and live in
a free country. This desire is so strong that it can overcome even
clear evidence to the contrary.

So ask yourself this: If
you are kidnapped and held prisoner in a room where you are plied
with psychedelic drugs which lead you to believe that you are in
fact not held prisoner in a room but are in fact somewhere else,
free and happy, assuming that you can actually become aware, to
some degree, of the fact that you are in the room being held
captive, what would you have to do to free yourself? Would it be
difficult? Painful? Would it involve denial? Horror at waking up to
your situation?...

President George W. Bush has never been an advocate of the First
Amendment. Even when he was governor of Texas, he prohibited
demonstrations on the walkways in front of the governor's mansion,
an area which had traditionally been used for peaceful
protests.

As president, Bush has
widened his restrictions on demonstrations against his policies.
Anti-Bush protesters are now relegated to what are euphemistically
called Free Speech Zones. These areas are cordoned off as far as a
mile away from the president and the main thoroughfares, so that
Bush cannot see the demonstrators, or their signs of protest, or
hear their chants.

The free speech enclosures
are only for those who disagree with the administration's current
policies. Those citizens who carry pro-Bush signs are allowed to
line the street where the president's motorcade passes.

Members of the Secret
Service or local law enforcement officers under orders of the
Secret Service demand that protesters move into a free speech area.
Peter Buckley, of Oregon, a former Democratic candidate for
Congress, attended a presidential appearance. After being herded
into a fenced-in free speech area, he wrote in an opinion piece for
The Oregonian: "We were not allowed anywhere near any kind of
position where the president, or the media which follows him, would
see or hear us. This is not America. This in not the land of the
free and the home of the brave. This is some other country. I'm a
patriotic American. I want the country I was raised to believe in,
a country strong enough for political discourse and debate, with
leaders courageous and decent enough to have the willingness to
listen to all citizens, not just those who parrot their own views.
... The effort being made to hide political opposition in this
country is more than cowardly, it's un-American."

Brett Bursey, of South
Carolina, attended a speech given by the president at the Columbia
Metropolitan Airport. He was standing among thousands of other
citizens. Bursey held up a sign stating: "No more war for oil."
Bursey did not pose a threat to the president, nor was he located
in an area restricted to official personnel. Bursey wasn't blocking
a corridor the Secret Service needed to keep clear for security
reasons. He was standing among citizens who were enthusiastically
greeting Bush. Bursey, however, was the only one holding an
anti-Bush sign.

He was ordered to put down
his sign or move to a designated protest site more than half a mile
away, outside the sight and hearing of the president. Bursey
refused. He was then arrested and charged with trespassing by the
South Carolina police. [...]

Comment:
And Americans still think they do NOT live in a police
state/dictatorship?? Get real!

GAZA, Nov. 6 (Xinhuanet) --
Israeli army forces have carried out 157 assassination operations
against Palestinians since the outbreak of the intifada, or
uprising, in September 2000, a report by Palestinian humanitarian
institution said Thursday.

A
total of 309 Palestinians were killed and 627 others injured in the
Israeli operations, according to the report issued by the Gaza
City-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

"Out
of the 309 Palestinians killed, 114 of them were innocent civilians
who happened to be at the scene of the crime, and 38 werechildren,"
the report said.

"The
Israeli army still continues to carry out illegal crimes,
assassination operations and physical eliminations, alleging that
the victims were involved in attacks carried out against Israeli
targets," it said.

"What worries the most is
that these crimes...that contravene the Geneva Convention are still
perpetrated in the midst of the international community's silence,"
it added.

The
report warned that such a silence could encourage Israel to carry
out more crimes against the Palestinians whom Israel accuses of
planning or perpetrating attacks against its targets.

"In
all cases, the Israeli army has never presented any proofs that the
victims were actually involved in attacks against Israel and
directly executed these individuals without arresting them or
presenting them to any trials," the report said.

"The
period between the beginning of last May until the end of September
has witnessed an unprecedented escalation regarding military
assassination operations carried out in the Palestinian
territories," it said. [...]

Comment: There is
this handy slur pulled out every time someone speaks up regarding
Israel's genocidal policies: anti-semitism. U.S., taking a cue from
Zionists, also has a few slurs every time someone questions their
genocidal policies: anti-American or unpatriotic. Both labels can
land the labeled in a heap of trouble. A handy system if you are a
homicidal leader of a country. Of course the reverse is
true.

The
real patriots or Americans question their countries practices.
Someone who cares about the Jewish people will point out the
obvious set up. Sharon and company are placing Israeli citizens
under the looming monster of constant terrorism, using fear and
terror to maintain and acquire power. Of course there are citizens
of both regimes who support the continual
atrocities.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A
substance that authorities say might be anthrax was detected at the
military facility that processes White House mail, the Navy and
Homeland Security Department said Thursday.

Equipment that routinely
monitors the air at the Naval Automated Processing Facility in the
District of Columbia indicated Wednesday the presence of "small
amounts of biological pathogens, possibly anthrax," said Rachael
Sunbarger, a Homeland Security spokeswoman.

After the initial field
test, eight air samples were sent to Fort Detrick, Md., for
testing, according to Lt. Cmdr. Edward Zeigler, spokesman for the
Naval District of Washington. One sample tested positive for
anthrax and seven tested negative, he said.

As a
result, more testing will be done, he said.

A
Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, Cmdr. Conrad Chun, said the Fort
Detrick test showed a spore count of 138. He described the spores
as "dead."

There were no illnesses
reported, Sunbarger said.

Few
people work at the automated facility. Chun said the workers wear
protective clothing and that an air monitor worked as designed.
Mail is screened there before going to a mail-handling facility
nearby, he said. The facility also handles mail distributed to Navy
personnel throughout the Washington area.

Chun
said the matter is being further investigated by the FBI, the Naval
Criminal Investigative Service, postal inspectors and
others.

All
mail destined for the White House, Congress and other federal
agency is irradiated before it is delivered to those
sites.

A
Homeland Security official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said all the mail going through the facility had been stopped.
[...]

Comment:
Whose turn is it to be falsely accused this time? Back on December
16, 2001 the Washington Post published,
Capitol Hill Anthrax Matches Army's Stocks: 5
Labs Can Trace Spores to Ft. Detrick. The CIA also has it's own
stock of anthrax as openly admitted on CNN:
CIA uses anthrax, but no link to letters also dated
December 16, 2001. Yes, that's right. Bio warfare is a part of the
CIA's job description.

[...]The Los
Angeles Times will no longer refer to the attackers in Iraq as
''resistance fighters.'' The word came down last night from
assistant managing editor Melissa McCoy, keeper of the LAT copy
desks and usage rules. [...]

"Colleagues, We have, in
recent days, referred to those attacking American forces in Iraq as
'resistance fighters.' Although this term is not inaccurate on
its face, it conveys unintended meaning. To many, it
romanticizes the work and goals of those killing GIs. We should
avoid using it outside of quoted material.

The
terms 'insurgents' and 'guerrillas' are also accurate descriptors
and are preferred in this context. Please use them
instead."[...]

WASHINGTON - A veteran Pentagon
employee who was a key player in the effort to find links between
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida has been stripped of his
security clearance, according to senior U.S. officials.

The employee, F. Michael
Maloof, is associated with a Lebanese-American businessman who is
under federal investigation for possible involvement in a
gun-running scheme to Liberia, the West African nation embroiled in
civil war. The businessman, Imad El Haje, approached Maloof on
behalf of Syria to seek help in arranging a communications channel
between Syria and the Defense Department.

Maloof is
close to influential foreign policy hawks inside and outside
government, some of whom lobbied vigorously to get his clearance
restored despite objections from government security officers, one
official said.

The
officials involved all spoke on the condition of anonymity because
they were discussing classified matters. [...]

SADR
CITY, BAGHDAD, Iraq -- I met Ithir yesterday when I visited Sadr
City, the poor, crowded area in northern Baghdad that is home to
more than 2 million Shiites. Ithir works in a small shop that sells
an eclectic combination of inexpensive items: stationery, pens,
plastic clocks embellished with plastic flowery geegaws, picture
frames rimmed with hearts, some Barbie paraphernalia, and brightly
colored prints depicting the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Though
the young Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr has attracted a lot of
attention lately for his strong (albeit inconsistent) opinions
about the American occupation, al-Sistani remains the most widely
followed and respected Shiite leader in Iraq. Ithir, who holds a
master's degree in computer science, is devoted to Sistani. He goes
to his local mosque regularly and, like any good Muslim, is fasting
for the month of Ramadan.

However, one issue leaves
him at odds with Sistani. Ithir desperately wants his ayatollah to
declare jihad on the Americans, so that he can start killing
American soldiers.

This
is not good news. Ithir is a Shiite, and Shiites are supposed to
love the Americans, or at least not hate them as much as some of
the other Iraqis do. The way the Bush administration lays it out,
the anti-U.S. violence is coming either from the Sunni minority
(Baathists who want the Americans to leave so they can reclaim the
stranglehold on the country they enjoyed under Saddam) or from
foreign terrorists.

But
things are a whole lot more subtle and complicated than that. A lot
of the Shiites, like Ithir, are furious at the Americans and ready
to kill. And Shiites make up 60 percent of the country; they're
well-organized and have clear leadership and command structures. If
they go, the Americans won't be facing the occasional roadside bomb
or rocket-propelled grenade. They'll be facing a full-on nationwide
insurrection.

When
I entered Ithir's shop, he greeted me with an almost beatific smile
and immediately went next door to buy me a 7 Up (though he could
probably ill afford it and though he, himself, couldn't drink
anything -- even water -- until sundown). He continued to smile
warmly throughout our conversation, while he explained in soft,
matter-of-fact tones, why he hoped he would soon be given the green
light to start killing Americans.

Like
so many other Iraqis I've spoken to, Ithir feels profoundly angry
and discouraged about the state of his country. America is the most
powerful nation in the world, right? The swiftness with which the
Americans won the war inspired (as planned) both shock and awe. So
why, Iraqis wonder, can't the occupiers improve the situation in
Iraq right now?

Iraqis tend to see the
ongoing problems with security, power, sanitation, leadership,
etc., as either a purposeful strategy on the part of the Americans
or a type of malign neglect. As one young Shiite told me, "During
Saddam, we heard lots of promises. 'Iraqis will be on top in
technology,' et cetera. But it's only words on paper. We think
Americans are the same. They make promises without keeping them.
Like the phones -- they say we'll have them, but we don't believe
it anymore. They say a week, then a month. A year will go by." When
I ask these men whether they can see today's deprivations as a
tradeoff for the new freedoms they have, especially the ability to
openly criticize the current situation, I often get the same
answer: "Yes, now we can talk," they'll say. "But what does it
matter if no one is listening?" Another expression I hear lately is
an old Arab saying: "A man who has seen death and survived, is
satisfied with a flu." Saddam was the flu -- the situation now,
people tell me, is death. [...]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two
priceless pieces of Iraq's ancient heritage, looted from Baghdad's
main museum in the chaotic days after Saddam Hussein's fall, have
been recovered from a Baghdad cesspool, U.S. officials say.
[...]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Repudiating decades of U.S. policy, President
Bush said Thursday the United States and its allies have been wrong
in "excusing and accommodating" a lack of freedom in the Middle
East. He prodded Saudi Arabia and Egypt to lead Arab nations toward
democracy.

Mindful
of widespread anger and mistrust in the Muslim world toward the
United States, Bush also said that as democratic governments emerge
in the Middle East, they should reflect their own cultures and
"will not and should not look like us."

He said
it would take time for democracy to spread and the United States
would be "patient and understanding." [...]

Comment:Saudi
Arabia should lead Arab nations towards democracy?! Is this the
same monarchial Saudi Arabia where women are treated like cattle
and amputations are the penalty for minor crimes? Finally the US is
clarifying just what "freedom and democracy"
means.

I guess
it was inevitable. Someone has compared President George Bush to
"Baghdad Bob," the inadvertently comical Iraqi information minister
who kept insisting Iraq was winning the war even as American tanks
gathered outside his office.

This came after the
president's latest press conference, when he said attacks were
increasing in Iraq because the occupation was so successful. In
other words, the situation is worse because the situation is
better. The more successful we are, the more Americans and
Iraqis will die from bombs and ambushes. It was Bill Press, the
other half of the TV show with Pat Buchanan, who came up with that
wisecrack.

The
president's handlers are wise to keep him away from news
conferences. He doesn't handle them well. At this one, you could
see from his facial expression that he was not happy to be there.
He was, as most politicians are, defensive and evasive. He
absolutely refuses to acknowledge that the people attacking
Americans in Iraq are anyone but Saddam loyalists and foreign
terrorists. Actually, most of them are probably just Iraqis who
resent foreign occupation and the bad behavior of some American
troops.

If he
read newspapers, which he told a TV interviewer that he doesn't, he
would know that. Even one of the American officers in Iraq recently
slipped up and, in an interview with a journalist, referred to the
guerrillas as "freedom fighters." There is scant evidence of any
sizable number of foreign terrorists, at least none that secretive
American officials have been willing to make public. One guy shot
the other day by Iraqis had a Syrian passport, but that doesn't
mean he was necessarily a Syrian. People in the terrorist business
usually have several passports. [...]

[Bush] keeps repeating
that canard that "terrorists hate freedom." Nonsense. There is no
terrorist in the world who is a terrorist because he hates freedom.
By far, the majority of terrorists are fighting for freedom of some
group that doesn't have it. In the case of Iraq, it is freedom from
American occupation; with the Irish Republican Army, it
was freedom from British rule; with the Palestinians, freedom from
Israeli occupation; and so forth. It is absurd to suppose that a
human being sitting around suddenly stands up and says: "You know,
I hate freedom. I think I'll go blow myself up." [...]

WASHINGTON - The Army next year
will undertake its largest series of troop rotations since World
War II when it sends 85,000 new Army and Marine combat forces to
Iraq to replace soldiers ending one-year tours.

The
Pentagon plans, announced Thursday, also include alerting an
additional 43,000 National Guard and Reserve support troops that
they may be sent to Iraq as well. [...]

Service
members know the consequences of going absent without leave
(unauthorized absence in the Navy) — a maximum penalty of
five years confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a
dishonorable discharge. The maximum penalty for desertion in a time
of war is death.

Yet some
military personnel are going AWOL or deserting to avoid returning
to Iraq.

"I
definitely don’t want to go back there," a Florida National
Guardsman told CBS News. "I think most people — if not all
people who are there — don’t want to be
there."

That
Guardsman missed his flight back to Iraq on Oct. 18. According to
the Washington Post, the soldier has not returned to duty and may
be on the run. [...]

Granger
said she could not say whether the Army would execute a deserter
today as each case is judged on an individual basis. "Obviously
it’s an option," she said. [...]

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — The
top American military commander for the Middle East has created a
covert commando force to hunt Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and
key terrorists throughout the region, according to Pentagon and
military officials. [...]

FORT
CARSON, Colo. (AP) - The Army dismissed a cowardice charge and
filed a lesser count against an Army interrogator who sought
counseling after he saw the body of an Iraqi man cut in half by
American fire.

Staff
Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany was charged with dereliction of duty,
according to a statement released Thursday afternoon by Fort Carson
officials. A military court hearing set Friday for Pogany was
canceled. [...]

(KRT) - Jessica Lynch has
angrily accused the Pentagon of using her for
propaganda.

The
20-year-old private, portrayed as a female Rambo after she was
captured by Iraqis during a blazing gun battle and then freed by
American troops, told ABC there was no reason for her rescue from
an Iraqi hospital to be filmed.

"They used me as a way to
symbolize all this stuff," Lynch said in an interview with Diane
Sawyer that airs Tuesday, Veterans Day.

That
footage of U.S. commandos wheeling a grimacing Lynch to a waiting
chopper was among the most dramatic of the war - and helped cement
her image as a female warrior.

But
Lynch said the true heroes were the soldiers who saved
her.

"They're the ones that came
in to rescue me," she said. "I'm so thankful that they did what
they did; they risked their lives. … They are my heroes."
[...]

Comment: Four of
her "heroes" have died under mysterious circumstances. Now that the
story has been unleashed, the facts will not change belief for
many, particularly now that there are fewer people to report what
really happened.

"Vietnam II" Pre-Flight
Check!

1. Cabal of oldsters who
won't listen to outside advice? Check.
2. No understanding of ethnicity's of the many locals? Check.
3. National boundaries drawn in Europe, not by the locals?
Check.
4. Unshakable faith in our superior technology? Check.
5. France secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
6. Russia secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
7. China secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
8. Enemy supply lines unknown? Check.
9. Sec of Def pushing a conflict the Joint Chiefs never wanted?
Check.
10. Fear we'll look bad if we back down now? Check.
11. Corrupt corporate Texan in the White House? Check.
12. Land war in Asia? Check.
13. Right-wing unhappy with outcome of previous war? Check.
14. Enemy easily moves in/out of neighboring countries? Check.
15. Soldiers about to be exposed to our own chemicals? Check.
16. Daily guerrilla attacks that cannot be stopped? Check.
17. Anti-Americanism up sharply in Europe? Check.
18. B-52 bombers? Check.
19. Helicopters that clog up on the local dust? Check.
20. Infighting among the branches of the military? Check.
21. Locals that cheer us by day, hate us by night? Check.
22. Local experts ignored? Check.
23. Local politicians ignored? Check.
24. Local conflicts since before the USA has been a country?
Check.
25. Much confusion over who and where the enemy is? Check.
26. Against advice, Prez won't use taxes to pay for war? Check.
27. Blue water navy ships operating in brown water? Check.
28. Use of nukes hinted at if things don't go our way? Check.
29. War unpopular at home? Check.
30. No plan in place to end involvement? Check.

Big
Media companies keep getting bigger — with more and more
power over our lives. This week's deal between General Electric
(GE) and Vivendi means that GE'S NBC, which helped elect Arnold
Schwarzenegger Governor of California, has just picked up not only
Universal Studios, but the USA, Trio and Sci-fi cable channels to
go with CNBC and MSNBC, all part now of a $43 billion dollar
empire.

Then, there's radio. The
non-partisan Center for Public Integrity is out with a new study
showing that in each of 43 different cities a third of the radio
stations are owned by a single company. No company's supposed to
own more than eight in any market, but the media giants thumb their
nose at the rules all the time. In 34 of those 43 markets, one
company owns more than eight stations.

The
big daddy of all is Clear Channel Communications — 1200
stations altogether. In Mansfield, Ohio, Clear Channel owns eleven
of the seventeen radio stations in your town. In Corvallis, Oregon,
over half of what people hear is decided by Clear Channel —
seven of thirteen radio stations.

Cumulus Media is the second
biggest radio empire. Cumulus, remember, banned the Dixie Chicks.
Cumulus owns eight of the fifteen radio stations in Albany,
Georgia.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI
will be able to check a person's background for potential terrorist
activities more easily under national security guidelines issued
Wednesday by Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Civil libertarians said the
rules could invite abuses against innocent people.

The
guidelines enable the FBI to conduct a "threat assessment" of
potential terrorists or terrorist activity without initial evidence
of a crime or national security threat, as required to begin a more
formal preliminary or full investigation.

The
purpose is to ensure the FBI approaches these investigations "with
an eye toward early intervention and prevention of acts of
terrorism before they occur," according to the
guidelines.

The
FBI will be allowed to collect information on "individuals, groups
and organizations of possible investigative interest" in national
security cases in the ways that agents already can in cases
involving more traditional crimes such as illegal drugs and
organized crime.

Ashcroft issued similar
revised guidelines for these traditional criminal investigations in
May 2002. [...]

New
allegations of torture have been levelled against Australian troops
who served in East Timor, with former Timorese militia members
claiming they were beaten and kicked and had their heads forced
down excrement-filled toilets.

On
SBS's Dateline program tonight, two of the men also say they were
forced into cubicles where wasps' nests were present, with their
Australian interrogators allegedly stirring up the nests so the
detainees would be stung.

The
group also claims that one of their number, Yani Ndun, is missing,
having last been seen alive in the custody of Interfet, the
Australian intervention force. [...]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov.-elect
Arnold Schwarzenegger will hire a private investigator to look into
allegations that he groped women, but he may keep the results from
the state attorney general, a spokesman said Thursday.

Schwarzenegger's reluctance to
turn over the results of the investigation stem from remarks
Attorney General Bill Lockyer made earlier Thursday. The Democrat
said he advised Schwarzenegger that the misconduct allegations "are
not going to go away" and he should cooperate with an independent
investigation.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Rob
Stutzman said those statements violated attorney-client privilege
and have forced Schwarzenegger to reconsider whether he would
provide any information to Lockyer.

"In
regard to a review of allegations that surfaced late in the
campaign, the governor-elect had already decided to engage a
well-respected investigative firm to look into the allegations,"
Stutzman said. "He had intended to instruct the investigators to
turn over the final results of that investigation to the attorney
general; he will now reconsider that option." [...]

Comment:In other
words, Schwarzenegger has admitted his guilt and is now trying to
ensure that the results of any investigations are not seen by
people looking for the truth.

Judicial independence is at
risk from the Government's constitutional reforms, England's most
senior judges said yesterday.

Calling for a new
constitutional settlement to protect the public, one said that
abolishing the Lord Chancellor as the central core of the legal
system would open the door to the sort of political
interference last seen in Nazi Germany.

Asked when there was last a
threat to the judiciary of this magnitude in England and Wales,
Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, referred to the 17th century,
when "a lot of judges lost their heads".

His
deputy, Lord Justice Judge, drew comparisons from abroad, recalling
that Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far-Right National Front,
had come second in the French presidential elections last
year.

"We do have to
remember that Hitler came to power in a democratic country by
getting a significant popular vote and then subverting the
constitution," he added.

"There are nasty people out
there and there's no guarantee that because we're Great Britain
none of them will ever, ever come to power." [...]

Comment:
Lord Woolf is a little late in making public his comments, what he
speaks of potentially happening has already come to pass, both in
the UK and the US.

PRINCE Charles last night
admitted that he was the senior Royal accused of involvement in a
compromising incident with a former servant.

But
the heir to the throne, currently in Oman following a tour of
India, dismissed the allegation and said the incident had never
taken place.

The
claims, believed to have been made by the prince’s former
valet, George Smith, are said to form part of the so-called Diana
tapes, the existence of which was revealed by her former butler,
Paul Burrell.

In a
dramatic intervention just hours after the Guardian newspaper was
given permission to name the prince’s former aide, Michael
Fawcett, as the servant at the centre of newspaper allegations, a
statement from Clarence House on the prince’s behalf said:
"The speculation needs to be brought to an end.

"The
allegation was that the Prince of Wales was involved in the
incident. This allegation is untrue."

The
statement went on: "The incident which the former employee claims
to have witnessed did not take place.

AROUND 40 armed men stormed
the Moscow offices of the Open Society institute of US billionaire
George Soros early today, taking five people hostage, Interfax news
agency reported, but there was no apparent political
motive.

"Armed men in military
clothing came into the building of the institute at 10.30 pm local
time," a spokeswoman for the institute told the Russian agency.
"They chased out all the employees except for five who they are
still holding," Irina Racheeva said.

The
lawyer for the foundation, Pavel Kuzmin, stressed the men were
known to the institute. "We know these people... We are (currently)
in court against them regarding the ownership of this building," he
said.

"There are currently around
40 people wearing camouflage in the building," Kuzmin
added.

The
Soros Foundation and the Open Society institute are heavily
involved in promoting civil society and the development of
democratic ideas, chiefly in formerly communist east European
countries.

SAN
FRANCISCO, A group of East Bay activists showed up at San Francisco
movie theaters yesterday to distribute red pills, or New World
Order matrix cards, to Matrix Revolutions’ moviegoers. The
activists, known as Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and Agent Smith, hit the
Loews and the Coronet theaters with exhortations for people to
“take the red pill” and “learn about the REAL
matrix that we live in”.

The
cards list twenty websites where people can learn about the New
World Order -- the World Bank, the neo-cons, privatization,
militarization, enemy creation and the corporate media -- and how
these bodies and agents are working for social and structural
control the world and crafting the scenarios to make it
happen.

People in the lines
enthusiastically started reading the cards including a Trinity
Trio, three women dressed in patent leather and dark sunglasses,
who instantly got the connection between the movie and the cards.
“Oh, we know we are living in another matrix. These are
wonderful,” one Trinity said about the cards.

India's main opposition
Congress party, which has pledged to get tough on crime against
women, suffered a severe blow Monday when a court convicted a
former party leader of killing his wife and burning her body in an
open-air barbecue. [...]

BASNA,
India — A new reckoning is under way in India over how best
to stabilize a population that is set to surpass China's as the
world's biggest by midcentury.

Indian
women currently bear an average of just under three children
— a steep drop from the six of 50 years ago, but still above
the 2.1 that would stabilize a population that already exceeds a
billion people.

The
burden on development and the growing competition for resources
like water and land are prompting a reassessment in which India is
struggling to balance its democratic impulses with its demographic
pressures.

Nearly a
decade ago, India embraced the conclusions of a 1994 United Nations
conference on population in Cairo, which called for abandoning
contraceptive targets, improving education and health for women and
children, and offering multiple voluntary contraceptive
choices.

India
itself had recoiled against coercive policies — like China's
— after the ruthless sterilization campaign under Indira
Gandhi in the late 1970's.

But
today, the national mood increasingly favors a tougher approach,
and states, free to adopt their own policies, are experimenting.
[...]

Earthquake survivors in
Zhangye City of northwest China's Gansu Province are battling
sudden snow and the chilly temperature of 6 degrees Celsius below
zero Thursday as they try to rebuild their lives.

Earthquake survivors in
Zhangye City of northwest China's Gansu Province are battling
sudden snow and the chilly temperature of 6 degrees Celsius below
zero Thursday as they try to rebuild their lives.

More
than 2,500 soldiers have again been sent out to help people in
quake-hit areas.

Some
22,000 families in the city's quake areas have been relocated to
cotton tents and sheds with heated brick beds or to relatives,
while more than 10,000 families were still sheltering in makeshift
tents on Thursday, said a spokesman of the city government.
[...]

Using an infra-red camera
to peer through dense Peruvian forest cover for the first time,
explorers have found a lost ruin which seems to be a sister site of
the Inca ceremonial city of Machu Picchu.

Flying over the Andes in a
single engined Cessna, the Anglo-American expedition found
Llactapata when the camera picked out the outlines of stone
buildings, which retain heat, unlike vegetation.

However, there are fears
that the new site is highly vulnerable to looters. It is only two
miles from Machu Picchu, part shrine, part palace, which is visited
by half a million people each year and protected by a national
park.

The
discovery of Llactapata, around 50 miles north-west of Cuzco, the
old Inca capital, was announced yesterday by Hugh Thomson, the
British writer and explorer who led the expedition with the
American archaeologist Gary Ziegler, supported by The Royal
Geographical Society and Explorers Club of America.[...]

Given New Zealand's
well-known history of earthquakes, some Kiwis are quite smug that
Australia's Foreign Affairs officials only just appear to have
realised that the earth does move across the Tasman.

WASHINGTON -- Contaminant
buildup on an optical filter aboard NASA’s Chandra X-ray
Observatory is increasing the time needed to get accurate readings
from the spacecraft in the low-energy range of the X-ray spectrum,
according to a program official. [...]

Scientists and dignitaries
from Europe, North America and Chile are breaking ground today
(Thursday, November 6, 2003) on what will be the world's largest,
most sensitive radio telescope operating at millimeter
wavelengths.

ALMA
- the "Atacama Large Millimeter Array" - will be a single
instrument composed of 64 high-precision antennas located in the II
Region of Chile, in the District of San Pedro de Atacama, at the
Chajnantor altiplano, 5,000 metres above sea level. ALMA's primary
function will be to observe and image with unprecedented clarity
the enigmatic cold regions of the Universe, which are optically
dark, yet shine brightly in the millimetre portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum. [...]

MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 5 (RIA
Novosti correspondent Olga Lipich) - A VFS-3M video photometric
installation of Belarussian design and manufacture has been
delivered to the Russian unit of the International Space Station.
The leading-edge gadgetry will forecast earthquakes and other
calamities.

Brainchild of the Research
Institute of Applied Physical Problems under the Belarussian State
University, the installation was made on order of Russia's research
Institute of Earth Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Spread, and
the Energia space rocket corporation. The endeavor is part of
Russia's Seismology R&D program, reports the Belarussian
Embassy to Russia.

The
VFS-3M registers luminosity of the upper and medium ionosphere, 50
to 150 km high, whose fluctuations depend on Earth seismic
activity. The installation will gage spatial-temporal and spectral
energy characteristics of light impulses from manned and unmanned
spacecraft, in particular, the ISS.

VANCOUVER (AFP) - Two
half-starved male youths who recently emerged from the British
Columbia wilderness claiming to have lived since birth in near
isolation are now in limbo as officials try to determine how to
help them. [...]

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